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Parallels forks over LGPL goods

Source code arrives with a delay

Open source developers have claimed victory after
Parallels
maker SWsoft
provided them with the source code of LGPL software that it had incorporated in
the latest version of its OS X virtualisation software.

Parallels 3.0 for OS X uses four 'dll' files from the
Wine open
source project. For systems running a virtual copy of Windows on top of OS X,
the technology translates
Microsoft's
DirectX graphics to OS X's OpenGL.

Wine is a Windows emulation technology best known for its ability to run
Windows applications on Linux. The project is governed by the Lesser General
Public licence, a less restrictive variant to the GPL.

Both licences require developers to disclose the use of the software and
publish the source code for any adjustments that they make.

A SWsoft employee promised on a company bulletin board to publish the code in
early June, but open source developers grew impatient as the company put off the
publication.

Only after the issue got highlighted on
Slashdot
over the weekend did the firm release the source code.

Corey Thomas, director of marketing at Parallels, blamed the situation on a
difference in expectations between the firm and developers.

"There is no specific time frame in the LGPL about when you have to provide
source code," Thomas told
vnunet.com.
"Once people got it, they were fine. It's just that they wanted it faster."

He promised that the company will be more responsive in sending out the
software, but declined to post the code online.